Report by Lieve Jansen on the pre-symposium “Holistic approach in

silent reflux and voice” and symposium “Freeing the sounding body” Salzburg 22-24

August 2014

Pre-symposium “Holistic approach in Silent reflux and voice” 22 august

Within mind our Evta-Be belief that the

voice best should be approached in a

holistic way, my attention was immediately

drawn to the announcement of a

symposium that approached the voice from

different facets entitled "Freeing the

sounding body" That this symposium took

place in the city of music and voice,

Salzburg, was an additional value.

The pre-symposium “Holistic approach in silent reflux and voice” made the expectations complete.

All abstract of the symposium can be downloaded on http://www.voicesymposium.com/download-

the-abstracts/

The first day there were lectures on the hot item reflux and voice approach and treatment and

workshops for physicians as well for voice teachers and therapists.

The invisible instrument “Voice” became more and more “visible” thanks to research during one and

a half century and today even not every question is answered.

It was very interesting to listen to eminence grise and well known researcher Prof. Jürgen Wendler

after opening remarks from Organisator Dr. Josef Schlömicher-Their (who combined Singing and

medical studies and graduated for both), Dr. Matthias Weikert and Dr. Markus Hess.

“Reflecting a 19th century invention,

the indirect way to the glottis-

Obsolete or up-to-date?” was the

title of his presentation.

Rather intended for physicians, it

was for us, singing teachers

nevertheless interesting to see how

cautious the approach is to proceed

to the delicate instrument that the

voice is, so that it is never damaged.

(see abstract)

Second lecture was an appetizing introduction in the physiologic principles of voice production by Dr

Ilter Denizioglu (again a singer-doctor).

It was a very clear and “to the point “lecture and we will be inviting Dr Denizoglu to the Evta-Be

symposium in 2015.

Dr James P. Tomas: “Using your ear and stroboscope for accurate diagnosis” explained why it is so

important always to listen to a voice and not only look at it through the stroboscope, a very wise

advice!

Most spectacular was the lecture of Dr. Ingo Herrmann about “What we know and don’t know

about swallowing!”

We eat, we swallow, we digest, we sing, we perform, we drink, are hungry and every day again our

throat, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach can work at the same time but what if it goes wrong, what

when a singer can hardly swallow or when stomach juice is coming in the throat again with reflux and

all the consequences of it? The saliva has three functional forms: The liquid in the stomach, the bile

and the pancreatic juice. It also has different appearances: as a liquid, as a gel and as foam

As it is almost impossible to tell everything in a lecture and to understand all as a listener, we hope to

know more at another occasion. Perhaps it can bring a new light in finding a solution for singers who

are reflux patients as medication like Omeprazole is just a very temporary solution.

Also other speakers were talking about reflux and chronical cough, monitoring PH values, were

talking about an overview of the current diagnostic modalities available for LPR. (Laryngopharyngeal

reflux)

In the afternoon there were workshops for ENT doctors there were also workshops about learning

together and how to test Oropharyngeal ph. and about phonosurgery.

For speech pathologists and therapists and singing teachers there were workshops given by Dr. Ilter

Denizoglu on Multidimensional aspects of human voice, General definitions and methodology of

voice therapy, Voice therapy techniques, Lax vox Voice therapy technique and hands-on applications

with the lax vox tube.

The day ended with a “Get together at the Voice Beer Brewery” with all participants of the tutorial

and the symposium. At the end everybody was singing and doctors seemed to have a singer’s

degree!

Symposium “Freeing the sounding body” 23 and 24 August.

23 August:

After a presentation of high definition views of the vocal cords

with the most beautiful images with the most advanced

cameras by James P. Thomas, John

Rubin made us aware of

Psychological and muscle tension

dysphonia. Many voice disorders

can have associated psychological

and emotional aspects and as we

know as teachers and singers ourselves, they often interact. Therefore it is

important that a whole team can coach the singer or actor to surmount the problem.

Christian Macha presented us “Voice work and

Neuroscience” as the voice starts in our brain.

A lot of us where waiting for the presentation of Jacob Liebermann, eminence grise and world

authority in osteopathy and laryngeal

manipulation.

This presentation discussed all the physical

elements that involve in voice production as jaw

function, laryngeal mechanism and breathing apparatus.

Also emotions and voice was subject of this

presentation. It is always interesting to see how those

very careful manipulations can have such a huge effect

on the freedom of the voice.

Very interesting was also the presentation of a German osteopath Birgit Gillemot. She described how

meticulously the osteopath observes and treats a patient.

Belgian Femke Ysenbaert, student of B.Timmermans

presented “The effect of structural stretch exercises on

articulatory precision and speech intelligibility in future

professional voice users” with the help of a wine cork, a

useful help in better articulation.

Heleen Grooten was the last speaker in the morning with a lecture about voice and trauma.

In about 70%of the cases, ENT doctors cannot find any physical abnormality in some patients with

complaints in their voice and /or throat and jaw.

In some cases these

complaints can be

treated by traditional

voice therapy but in

some cases this has no

successful result.

Sometimes traumatic

experiences can result in a lifetime state of fight/flight or freeze

and these states of the autonomic nerve system can become patterns of hyper- or hypo tonus,

mostly unconsciously. Somatic experiencing voice therapy can have a good result in those cases.

In the afternoon, different workshops about Medical therapies for participating doctors and about

body work and free sound for the other participants took place.

I, as a singing teacher participated to the workshop “Physics and neuromuscular background of

respiration, related to singers support”, given by Dr.Werner Duller (Pulmonary function) and Dr.

Ilter Denizoglu (vocal system).

This is also what a singing teacher is experiencing. Singing

students can be constantly out of breath and it is mostly a lack

of technique, confidence and inner stillness but also a loss of

energy flow.

Physical interactions between voice and breath: Voice is subglottic pressure plus glottis resistance.

Transglottic

airflow sets

the vocal

folds

mucosa in

motion.

Posture also is very important. Posture is “noble” sternum

is high.

And this is one of the most important items to remember: Beware of the antagonist muscle groups!

Singing students often have the tendency to take a deep breath as they go for deep sea diving. It is

absolutely not necessary. A low normal breath is enough. This is not a new idea. Old “masters” in

singing told that:

But it was fine to hear that once more!

The second workshop I followed was about the Qigong method, given by Eva Maira Haupt.

The Qi gong system and the “5 elements” provide us with massage techniques connected with the”

primal sounds”. Used quite often by opera singers it offers a way to keep the voice healthy.

Also other workshops, given simultaneously had as subject the always thin line between relaxation

and energetic stage behaviour. I was a pity that we had to make a choice between all those

interesting items.

The last session in the afternoon I listened to the presentation of Bernhard Richter, singer and

researcher about “Voice fitness, voice loading and voice regeneration in professional singers”

Singers nowadays often have to perform cross-border, even worldwide. It is necessary to be able to

coop with a “travelling job”. Good self-management is very important in a good awareness of body

and psyche. The complex topics as voice strain, voice failure and its prevention in vocal hygiene are

to be carefully considered in a life-time career!

Those professional singers, speaking out of their own experience, often can give a lot of very useful

ideas when they start a second career as a vocal teacher!

To end the afternoon session, Bernhard Richter interviewed the famous singer Michael Schade who

was singing in the “Salzburger Festspiele”. To hear this professional about his career as a singer and

how he coped with having a family was very interesting and sometimes very hilarious!

Sunday 24th of August

The last day of this very interesting symposium started with a very interesting presentation of the

new DVD “New physiological insights on playing Wind instruments” by Claudia Spahn.

Also for singers it was very interesting and the DVD for singers will appear next year. We will do our

best to invite Mrs Spahn to our symposium on November 7th with MRI images of the voice!

Look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xo63XrllxQ for the presentation of the Wind

instruments DVD!

Francesca Canali Shared functional physiological aspects of singing and flute playing. We saw

already in the MRI images of Claudia Spahn how the larynx of a flute player shows similar vocal folds

movements as a singer!

The second session had as subject Voice care and dietary regime for professional voice users.

We all know the importance of

drinking water and to avoid

dehydrating drinks as coffee and

alcohol or at least to

compensate every cup of coffee

or a glass of wine with a glass of

still water!

Also food allergies and reflux can be cured by eating the right food and avoiding tempting product as

milk chocolate or refined products.

Wheat products can be replaced by organic spelt or oats. Also medicines and food supplies have to

be chosen very carefully. Doctor has to know you are a singer!

For reflux patients a low acid diet can

be very useful!

Water with more than 7.2 pH (you can

read it on most bottles) is highly

recommended!

Best is 8.8 pH (water in

Antwerp) to 9.1pH.

The technique of “cover” in romantic Italian operatic baritone singing compared to baritones

trained in so- called German tradition by Hubert Noé, showed us by different examples, how a voice

can sound different in the same arias!

The symposium ended with Non classical singing styles in contemporary commercial music for

professional classical singers. Jeannette Lovetry worked with some classical trained singers who first

sang a classical aria and then a contemporary commercial song. She managed to make tem sing with

some useful tips less classical and sound acceptable “pop” or “rock” after a short class.